THREE €50,000 PRIZES FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE PROJECTS TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE IN A CHANGING ECONOMY

LAUNCH

Paris, France

20 March 2018

APPLICATION DEADLINE

27 April 2018 (12:00 noon Brussels time)

MENTORING ACADEMY

Cluj, Romania

16 - 18 July 2018

AWARDS CEREMONY

Brussels, Belgium

8 November 2018

The Problem

Young people are the future. They should have the opportunity to fully participate in the economy. How? By acquiring the right skills, having a well-paid, rewarding job, and creating value for themselves and their community.

At the same time, our economy is changing. New technologies, ways of working or migration impact places and communities, bringing both new opportunities and challenges.

Can you turn your local challenges into opportunities for young people in the economy?

Innovations that take place in a certain location and respond to specific local conditions, challenges and opportunities are often called ‘place-based’.

Why take a place-based approach? Well, all places are different and have different needs, challenges and opportunities. Solutions should respond to these specific local characteristics in order to be successful within that community.

WHAT IS THE COMPETITION LOOKING FOR?

We’re looking for ideas from social innovators, entrepreneurs, students, designers, tech enthusiasts, educators, doers and makers, movers and shakers, and people who want to change the world!

New tech

Initiatives that use new technologies and ways of working to provide opportunities for youth based on local specificities and needs.

entrepreneurship

Ideas that promote and enable youth entrepreneurship and innovation using local assets, particularly among young people who may not otherwise have become innovators.

SKILLS

Ideas responding to current or future requirements in the local community for skills and experience, or ideas developed from locally-available skills and experience.

JOB SECURITY

Solutions to improve the quality of life and financial or social security of young people in irregular work.

ADVICE

Innovations that provide information, advice and guidance to young people so they can navigate their options in the new economy.

LONG-TERM

Creative concepts that will provide young people with long-term projects, prospects and potential career opportunities.

Ideas that are led by young people themselves are particularly encouraged.

HOW DOES THE COMPETITION WORK?

Application

You must have entered your idea by Friday 27 April 2018, 12:00 (noon) Brussels time.

Judging

Our judging panel will choose 30 of the most promising applications as semi-finalists, who will receive business development support.

Academy

Semi-finalists will be matched with a mentor and invited to a three day academy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in July 2018 to progress their ideas.

mentoring

With the help of their mentors, the semi-finalists will submit a final detailed business plan to the judges by the end of August 2018. This factsheet contains further information on mentoring.

Awards

Ten finalists will be selected to pitch their projects at the Awards in Brussels in November 2018, where three winners will each be awarded prizes of €50,000 to develop their ideas.

Impact Prize

In 2019 the 30 semi-finalists will have another chance to win €50,000 through the Impact Prize, which is awarded to the project which has demonstrated greatest impact in the 12 months since submitting their detailed business plan.

Who could put it better than this: "This year’s focus on empowering young people in a changing economy is of particular relevance as they represent not only the future of Europe, but also the cohesion of our communities." Carina Lopes of @dLAB_MWC and 2018 #diogochallenge judge

Mikkel Munksgaard Andersen judge at the 2018 #diogochallenge says:"This competition is an essential part of developing the field of #socent and social economy, which is necessary to create new solutions for the many societal challenges, we are facing today". @DANSIC_tweets